[UPDATE 3 April 2016: Winner Announcement! Congratulations to Lim Kai Boon and Katrina Tan! You folks won a set of 5 Nexo Knights Ultimate sets each! Please check your email for prize collection details. ]

Lego’s new Nexo Knights range of toys is probably its most comprehensive yet, and I’m hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t like it. Announced last year and released earlier this year, the Nexo Knights, who are joining the fantasy-led Legend of Chima and the mythical warriors of Ninjago, are the latest property from the toy maker, and it mixes enough elements from all over toy land, to make it appeal to almost everyone.

Think of it as Visionaries meets Transformers meets Starcom meets Lord of The Rings.

The Nexo Knights are the defenders of Knighton from Jestro and his army of monsters. Each of the knights command a land or air vehicle, and have a crest as a token of their abilities. I know, the very nature of Lego means that the toys can be built to form anything, so referencing the Transformers is moot but you have to understand the toys a little bit more.

The knights are armed with medieval weapons and armour, but each of their crest contain special abilities. And the biggest toy in the set, the Fortrex, is more like a mobile castle that has moving parts, for it to turn from castle into tank, loaded with weapons, and even a mini kitchen.

There are 19 Lego Nexo Knights sets in the first wave of toys, and if that’s not enough, there is also a 10 episode cartoon series, as well as an Android and iOS game, LEGO Nexo Knights: Merlock 2.0.

The cartoon is currently not airing everywhere, so you can be forgiven for missing out on it, or not knowing too much about the new series. That said, you can still learn about the Nexo Knights and my advice for those looking at picking up this range would be to download the free mobile game, to see if the concept appeals to you.

And if you’re ready, here’s a closer look at the 1,140 piece set, which comes with 8 minifigs. Well, sorta. There’s Clay and Aaron, and Axl, but Axl is rather large. Then there’s Chef Eclair and two Scurrier creatures, who are also smaller in size. Rounding up the list is an Ash Attacker and a hologram of Merlok 2.0 (who, in my opinion, is not exactly a minifig).

There are 7 bags in the box, and only six are numbered. The last bag contains tracks, for the four track treads that the Fortrex moves on. There are also rubber studs, to ensure smooth movement of the hard plastic on your equally hard floors.

Assembly of the first bag is easy enough. You get two vehicles here, with one that actually launches projectile discs. The other looks kinda like a Lego-fied Batpod.

Now we move on to the castle and this is the one that took me almost 4 hours, and that’s without applying the stickers. A lot of them time was also spent admiring the individual mechanisms on the Fortrex. The drawbridge is a fully functional one, and the twin guns on the bridge actually fire! The set comes with extra projectiles, in case some go missing.

Opening the drawbridge also brings up this massive missile that also fires (Alas, there’s only one of these missiles). The transition from close to open seems simple, but the way the weapons system comes online is pretty neat.

The four towers to Fortrex take up the four corners while in tank mode, and when the vehicle opens up to castle mode, the ensemble does look like a castle from the front. There are slots in the walls of the castle, which makes it perfect for folks to look out to, and yet be protected. The open position is clearly the way to play with this set, as the tank mode prevents players from appreciating the great detailing within.

One of the wall houses the training equipment, where the weapons and melee training dummy sits. The kitchen is on the other side of the castle, where Chef Eclair is. And right above the kitchen is the prison, located by the front tower, and this is perfect because why not torture a demon by making him smell but not eat the food.

Think of the middle as the castle’s round table, and there are four seats here circling the Merlock hologram.

In close mode, there are catches to secure the fortress and the knob at the base of the rear gate serves two purposes. Twisting this knob releases the catch, to make opening the Fortrex much easier.

Now, note the last photo with Aaron. He’s holding on to a shield and remember what I said about the shield giving the characters their abilities? Well, in the mobile game, scanning the image of the shield will also award players with unique abilities.

The catch? There are currently 118 shield powers in the Merlock 2.0 game. Few of us can possibly buy them all, and short of bringing your phone into a toy store to scan all the box art, here’s a shortcut.

And that wraps up our review of the Fortrex, and if you made it to the end, we have something exciting for you. Read on to find out!

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GEEK CULTURE GIVEAWAY!

Lego Singapore has provided us with 10 Lego Nexo Knights Ultimate Sets as a giveaway. Which means two lucky winners in Singapore will walk away with 5 sets (worth S$99.50) each comprising of Clay, Macy, Aaron, Robin and Beast Master!

Here’s how to win:

1. LIKE Geek Culture’s Facebook page here ->
    
2. Tell us via the form below, which is your most prized LEGO set to date, and why.
3. Lastly, SHARE THIS POST and TAG a friend (or more) who would appreciate this giveaway too! ->
    
4. We will pick 2 entries at random!

The contest is open to all who are currently residing in Singapore, and closes on 2 April 2016 @ 23:59hrs. The two winners will be picked at random and announced right here on 3 April 2016 and contacted via email.

[GIVEAWAY HAS CLOSED]